


Part of Your World

by Poteto



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Joint cultural festival AU, M/M, Obliviousness, Rin is a clueless dork, Sousuke is both helpful and unhelpful, a little bit of swearing, and Haru is an actual sulking child, if that makes sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 05:49:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5485904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poteto/pseuds/Poteto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin is absolutely horrified when he finds out he'll be playing the little mermaid for a school play. He hates it. If he weren't such a good friend and responsible captain, he would have simply quit. When he finds out Haru is going to be his prince, however, he feels... Different. How the hell is he supposed to deal with this situation?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Part of Your World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pomelofangirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pomelofangirl/gifts).



> And here it is! My work for the RinHaru Christmas exchange! I wish I had the time to make a whole long fic about this, because this was so much fun to write!  
> I wasn't able to fit everything that was requested, but I hope it's still acceptable. I wrote the drama part based on my own experience with producing a play, so I assure you that at least that part is close to reality.  
> Well, but that's enough of me blabbing. Merry Christmas and enjoy the RinHarus, everyone!

When Rei hears a familiar voice roaring his name from outside the club, his first reaction is to feel startled. Nagisa, that is changing into his swimming suit by his side, jumps in surprise. However, by the time they hear violent stomps coming closer and closer right before the owner of the voice storms into the clubroom, Rei has already started wearing his resigned expression. He actually saw this coming, he did, so he’s prepared for the conversation he is about to have. However that doesn’t make it any less troublesome.

“REI!” Rin growls again as he slams the door behind him.

Nagisa greets him with a dazzling smile, as if Rin suddenly appearing at their school in apparent murderous rage isn’t something unusual.

“Rin-chan! What a nice surprise!”

“Rin-san.” Rei starts, adjusting his glasses. “It’s not that I’m unhappy to see you, but please don’t just barge in like that. This is a changing room, you know.”

Rin doesn’t have time for Nagisa’s pleasantries or Rei’s etiquette lessons.

“Am I going to be _what_?” he barks.       

Nagisa looks honestly confused, but Rei already knows what this is about. He knew what would happen as soon as he made his decision. That didn’t stop him from doing what was right, however, he knows that you’re supposed to work hard in order to achieve true beauty. It wouldn’t hurt if his friends helped him a little, of course, but what can he do? Rei sighs deeply and takes off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his own noise.  This is really going to be troublesome.

 

Rei looks so tired that Rin almost feels bad for yelling at him.

But only _almost_ , because _this_? This is bullshit.

A few days ago, their teachers announced a joint cultural festival with Iwatobi High and that the clubs should do something together. Particularly, Rin didn’t care as long as they didn’t try to do anything strange such as Samezuka’s traditional Maid Café.  He was usually pretty diligent on his duties as captain, but the cultural festival had actually zero to do with swimming, so he wasn't exactly excited about it. He was going to do his job, of course, but he decided not to take a great part in the production part. This cultural stuff has never been his cup of tea.

And that was his first mistake.

He was drowning in work with new workout schedules for his club members when they had a meeting to decide what to do for the festival, so he let Makoto lead the meeting as Iwatobi’s captain and he didn’t oppose when they voted for doing a stage play. Someone suggests that they should do a musical – Gou looked pleased with the idea – and thus Rin agreed with the majority of the club members when they chose The Little Mermaid. It sounded funny, since they’re the swimming club, everyone liked the idea and as soon as they decided the meeting would be over and they could resume practice. He was glad that Rei kindly accepted the role of director, because nobody from the Samezuka swim club was too excited about this play anyway.

Well… Momo was excited, but being excited is probably Momo’s permanent state, so Rin didn’t take him in consideration.

Later Rei gave all of them a few lines to read from a paper as a test. Rin took it seriously and did his best, because it seemed important to Rei and he was supposed to give a good example as captain. Nevertheless, as soon as his test was finished, Rin ran back to the pool in which Haruka was already in, waiting for a race while the others tried to stutter their lines correctly in front of a very critic Rei. Rin thought it was okay, though. Rei was very responsible and thorough, everything should be fine if Rei was in charge.

Or at least Rin thought so until a few hours ago, when Gou had handed him a script telling him that he got the main role. The role of the little mermaid.

“I told you he was going to react like that.” Nagisa chuckles.

“Rin-san.” Rei puts on his glasses again. “Do you have any complaints about your role?”

“Well, fuck, where do I freaking start?” Rin throws his hands up in the air in frustration. “Do you realize that the mermaid is a _chick_?”

“Well, yes. But I didn’t think you’d be surprised to see males playing the female parts, since all the club members are boys.” Rei points out and Rin is at loss, because no, he hadn't thought about this. Again he was too busy with Haruka to pay attention to details like that. “And, besides, back then in Greece, where theater was born, there were only male actors, and thus it wasn’t unusual for men to play female roles, so I thought minor questions like gender shouldn’t interfere…”

“Yeah, yeah, cut the nerd talk.” Rin interrupts. Nagisa snorts and Rei makes a scandalized expression, but Rin doesn’t have the time to feel bad for being rude right now. “Why me? Why was I chosen to be the mermaid?”

“There is a series of reasons…” Rei starts.

Rin manages not to groan, but it’s really hard. He’s very grateful for what Rei had done for him in the past and, honestly, he likes Rei a lot. He’s a good friend. But when Rei starts speaking like that, there is a small part of Rin that secretly wants to shove him into a locker. Just because, you know, he loves Rei so much, but even love has its limits. When your friend casts you as the freaking heroine of some romance play and tries to use logic to defend his choice, you have every right to be annoyed by it.

“To begin with, I must say that as actors, your teammates are great swimmers, if you know what I mean. I respect all of them, but they performed so poorly during the tests… Rin-san was the only one able to read his lines with some emotion. I also considered the possible chemistry with our prince, of course. I was unsure if Rin-san was the best one for the role, but in the end Nagisa-kun and Yamazaki-senpai agreed that Rin-san would be the best choice, so I made my decision.”

So that’s it. Rin only has to kill Nagisa and Sousuke. He tries to glare at Nagisa, but it’s useless. Nagisa is too busy smiling at Rei as if his nerdness is the most hilarious thing he had ever seen. Rin sighs.

“Rei, I’m going to look hideous in a dress.” He tries. If there’s a chance that it’ll come out ugly, Rei won’t do it, right? _Right_? “You should cast Nagisa as Ariel. Look at him. He’s tiny. He could pass as a girl.”

“I considered that. But I think Nagisa-kun will be more helpful as my assistant, so I assigned him a smaller role. He’s going to play the sea witch.”

Rei stares at the small, cute Nagisa and tries to imagine him wearing a dress with octopus’ tentacles. He starts to doubt Rei’s ability to deal with this.

“Since we’re sticking to the original story, I added a few elements to make everything clear for the audience. As I was telling Haruka-senpai earlier…”

And Rei starts to ramble about his plans for the play and something about showing the human side of the characters, developing their dynamics in a more realistic way in order to fully represent on the stage the raw emotions the author meant to express and blah blah blah. Rin is a big fan of love stories and mermaids and all the Disney crap and everything, but Rei somehow made it sound really boring. Nagisa gives him an apologetic smile, as if telling him to bear with Rei.

Rei only stops talking when the door is opened one more time and Haru and Makoto walk in.

“Rin.” Haru says in a mildly surprised tone.

“Haru...!” Rin groans in a voice bathed in indignation. He knows that Rei has some mad respect for Haru. Maybe if his senpai opposes… “Rei wants me to be the little mermaid!”

Nagisa snorts loudly behind him and yes, he realized how much he sounded like a sulking child as soon as the words left his mouth.

“Ah… Yeah, I know.” Haru replies, simply. He doesn’t seem bothered. “Makoto is going to be your mother or something and I’m going to be the prince.”

Rin stares frantically at Haru’s unenthusiastic expression and then at Makoto’s calm smile. He doesn’t have any backup. Everyone seems satisfied enough with their own roles and none seem to care by the fact that Rin is going to be a mermaid. Rind could have started crying because now, regardless of his personal wishes, he’s going to be a sea princess.

 

 

"Hey, Ryugazaki." Sousuke calls for what it feels like the hundredth time and Rin has to physically fight the urge to cry or to punch his best friend. He can't decide which one he wants more.

Today is he first rehearsal and they came all the way to Iwatobi High to start working on this play. Iwatobi's cultural clubs have way more resources than Samezuka's, since their school focus mainly on the sports club, and apparently Nagisa had good friends from the Drama club that were more than willing to lend them what they needed to make this play work. Half of Rin's teammates were working on the play scenario - and Haru was the one supervising them, despite of the fact that he was also an actor - and the other half was sewing costumes in another room with the sewing club - because Iwatobi has a freaking sewing club - while Rin was stuck on the stage under Rei's critical eyes.

Until now, he had rehearsed over and over the same scenes from the beginning of the play in which he watched a dreamy human (temporarily played by Sousuke, since Haru was busy taking care of the scenario) from afar and then came back home and talked to his sisters (played by Momo and Ai, by the way) about his mad love for a guy he just freaking saw a couple of times. Rei was never satisfied and they had to run over the scene over and over again (which was a good thing, because Rin didn't have time to read the whole script let alone learn all of it.) and it would be fine, except for the fact that Sousuke wouldn't stop making annoying suggestions to make Rin's life more and more miserable.

"Shouldn't we rehearse wearing clothes similar to the ones we're using on the play?" Sousuke grins.

Rei, that seems to be getting along really well with Sousuke for some reason, adjusts his glasses and grins back. "Indeed, Yamazaki-senpai. However we don't have any clothes ready yet. We will do that as soon as we can, of course."

"Of course." Sousuke nods gravely. "We need Rin to get used to his seashell bra and his mermaid tail."

Rin groans. "Rei. Why is Sousuke here? Why isn't Haru being forced to... I mean, rehearsing with us?"

Unlike Sousuke's, Rin' suggestions (a.k.a. complaints) are never welcome. Rei gives him an slightly  annoyed look, as if he's dealing with a spoiled child.

"Of course Haruka-senpai will join us, but for now Yamazaki-senpai will have to do. Haruka-senpai is needed over there and this scene is simply enough for him."

"Haruka-senpai is our best artist." Gou nods, because she always picks Rei's side. "He's helping a lot with the scenario."

Rin takes a (resentful) look at Haru, that is calmly giving instructions to some of Rin's teammates and helping them to paint within the lines. Haru feels Rin's eyes on him and stares back. Rin looks away quickly on instinct. For some reason - especially lately - it has been hard to keep staring at Haru's eyes for too long. It makes Rin's stomach do weird somersaults. He notices Sousuke giving him a weird look and has no trouble in glaring back at him. He doesn't know why it is different now with Haru.

He tries to push the thought away, though, because he’s too busy trying to be an actor that sings. Who the heck thought it would be a good idea to make a musical? (Apparently, it was Iwatobi’s teacher and she won’t stop cooing about everything) After Rin sings about how he wants to be part of Haru’s world (why is he having flashbacks of middle school?) Momo asks him why he didn’t ask Rei to choose Gou as the little mermaid and he’s very insistent about it (yeah, as if Rin would let his little sister waltz on a stage wearing nothing but a seashell bra in front of that bunch of swimming wolves.) When they finally get to the scene in which the prince is drowning (which is a very weird concept. Haru drowning.) Haru finally stops helping with the rest of the team and joins them on the stage.

Haru’s job isn’t too difficult, though. Rin is the one that has to drag his “unconscious” body around. Rei says that they’ll later have someone waving blue sheets in front of them to simulate water. Rin finally lays Haru on the floor and then slowly caresses his face. His heart starts beating too fast. Is it because it’s embarrassing? Probably, because Rin feels his face heating up to the point he fears his blood is boiling as he softly sings to him. His voice cracks in the middle of the song out of nervousness and he sees Rei pulling a face by the corner of his eye.

Haru opens his eyes slowly and gives Rin a confused look. It seems almost as if he actually just woke up and doesn’t really know how he ended up there. It’s a good thing that the script says that the mermaid should get scared and swim back to the sea as fast as she can, because that’s exactly what Rin does.

 _What the hell was that?_ He simply… freaked out. Being so close to Haru, under the scrutiny of those blue eyes… He thought his heart was going to burst.

“You okay, dude?” Sousuke asks with brows furrowed when Rin gets out of the stage, his hand resting on his chest and fully aware that his pulse is going is too fast to be healthy.

Rin shakes his head thoughtlessly and Sousuke gives him another weird look before going to the stage himself.

Sousuke is playing the part of the prince’s best friend, a character that don’t even exist in the original story, but Rei thought it would be important to truly express the prince’s feelings and make him likable. As far as Rin understood, Rei finds the prince dumb, for some reason.

Rin watches as Sousuke finds Haru lying on the ground and helps him to get on his feet. It’s still a little weird to see Haru and Sousuke getting along, but the two of them are surprisingly good at acting – Sousuke being the worried friend and Haru being a confused prince that almost drowned just now.

“So what happened?” Sousuke asks. “How did your majesty end up here?”

“The ship… It sunk.” Haru says under his breath and then walks around the stage, his expression puzzled and tired. “We were drowning… I thought I was done for.”

“That is horrible.” Sousuke deadpans, frowning. Okay, maybe Sousuke isn’t that good of an actor after all. He looks more slightly troubled than horrified. “How did you survive?”

“There was… a maiden.” Haru stops walking and something sparkles within his eyes. Rin holds his breath. “A beautiful maiden with the most melodic voice I had ever heard. She held me and brought me to safety.”

“A maiden?” Sousuke scoffs. “In the middle of the sea? Aren’t you talking about a dream?”

“Aren’t I here, in front of you?” Haru turns around, his face burning with intensity. “I could never have survived that storm. I’m sure I was knocked unconscious right after the ship started to sink! I would be on the bottom of the ocean with the rest of the crew if it wasn’t for that maiden.”

“If a bunch of sailors drowned, what chance had a single maiden, my friend? I’m saying, your majesty must have dreamed of a maiden as the waves brought you here.”

“There’s no way…” Haru shakes his head and turns to face Sousuke, his eyes burning with determination. “I would never be able to dream with the soft touch of her arms… and I could never imagine such a dazzling voice… She was here. And I won’t rest until I find her again.”

“Great job!” Rei shouts and Rin jumps, startled.

He got so involved in Haru’s speech that he almost forgot everything was just a play. When the hell did Haru acquire more than two facial expressions? Rin almost believed his promise to find the mysterious maiden. He finds himself with his hand resting on his chest again, feeling his rushed heartbeat against his rib cage. He misses Rei final speech, because he’s trying to figure out what’s going on with his emotions and he would have stayed there with a dumbfounded expression if he hadn’t felt a hand tugging on his sleeve.

“Rin.” Haru asks him. His expression is empty again, the good and old bored Haru. “Do you want to sleep over?”

“What?”

“Do you want to sleep over at my house?” Haru repeats calmly. “So we can rehearse some more?”

Rin stutters something impossible to understand. Haru frowns at him, probably wondering what’s wrong with him. Rin doesn’t know either, but luckily Sousuke comes to rescue:

“Go ahead, Rin. I cover for you at the dorms. Make sure to work hard and become the loveliest mermaid.”

Rin grabs the excuse to jab Sousuke on the ribs and wrestle him a little. Fighting Sousuke feels good. Or at least better than dealing with the weird aching pain on his lungs that he feels when he looks at Haru for longer than five seconds.

 

 

Haru’s house is the same as Rin remembers, from the way the furniture is arranged to the familiar smell of fresh cleaning products. Rin always thought it was amazing how a guy like Haru was able to keep such a big house clean and tidy all the time. He leans on the door frame and watches Haru cooking them dinner – if you’re okay with calling mackerel a proper dinner – and, for some reason, his chest feels tight. Is this nostalgia? Weird. Everything feels weird.

However the weirdest thing is that Haru is actually putting effort into this festival thing. Rin didn’t realize that until the two of them got to his house and Haru immediately started talking about the play and what they were supposed to do to make it better. Haru wasn’t exactly known for being the most energetic person, but he sure was working hard, helping with the stage props and them not only accepting one of the main roles, but actually _acting_ and being good at it. He only stopped talking about the play when he decided it was time for dinner, because apparently cooking time is sacred in the Nanase house.

“Haru?” Rin tries calling after a few moments of comfortable silence.

“Hm?”

“You’re very into this, aren’t you? The play and stuff.”

Haru gives him a puzzled look over his shoulder. Rin shrugs.

“I mean… I would have never imagined you playing the main role. But I guess you always liked art, huh?”

“It’s not about acting.” Haru says, turning his gaze to the pan again. “Everyone is excited about this… Especially Rei and Nagisa.”

Rin frowns. That was the last thing he expected to hear. It’s not that surprising that Haru wants to see his friends happy – Rin knows Haru very well, he knows how deeply he secretly cares about them behind that detached expression. – but still finds surprising that Haru would go as far as accepting the part of the prince.

Maybe Haru can feel Rin’s perplexed stare on his back, because he sighs and adds:

“I owe Rei a lot, okay? When we asked him to be the director, he almost burst into tears. I don’t care about the play, but he does. He cares too much, actually. He would probably feel really bad if everything didn’t go well, so… I’ll do my best.”

Rin’s chest tightens. _I owe Rei a lot,_ he said. He doesn’t need to ask to know that Haru is talking about what happened a year ago when Rei decided not to swim the relay for Rin’s sake. It makes sense for Rin to be eternally grateful for that day, after all he was saved back then; but for Haru is different. Still Haru acts like that race was as important to him as it was to Rin. As if Rin’s well-being is as important to Haru as his own. Rin has to bite his lip to fight the emotion that threatens to overflow from his chest.

He clears his throat. _Play it cool, Matsuoka. Play it cool_.

“You’re right.” He finally manages. His voice is still a little heavy, a little too intense for the casual conversation. “ _We_ owe Rei a lot. Let’s rehearse a little more after dinner, okay?”

Haru just nods without turning around. Rin notices that the tips of his ears are red. He doesn’t know what to make out of that.

 

 

Rin lets himself fall on the futon, exhausted. It’s almost midnight and they went over and over the same scenes, from the part in which the prince finds the mermaid on the beach until the part in which the prince announces that he’s going to travel because someone gave him a tip about the whereabouts of the maiden he’s looking for. Rin never knew acting could be so tiring, especially when he didn’t have any lines, since the mermaid had gave up her voice for a pair of legs.

Haru raises a brow at him. “I’m going to get you a pillow. Don’t do anything weird while I’m not here.”

“Yeah, and what would I do? Look at your weird water porn?”

Rin didn’t forget the water magazines he found under Haru’s bed last time he slept over. And who the hell even makes magazines about water, anyway?

Haru comes back with a pillow and mercilessly throws it at Rin’s face.

“Oi, is that how you treat a guest?”

“Shut up.” Haru says and turns off the lights, making his way to his bed in the dark with no problem.

Rin chuckles and shifts around, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep. They’re in the start of the winter, but it’s already too cold for a futon.

“Rin. If you’re cold, you can sleep here with me.” Haru suggests, as if he had read Rin’s thoughts.

“I’m not sleeping in your bed with you!”

“We used to do that all the time back then.” Haru mutters and Rin can almost imagine him pouting in the dark.

He doesn’t point out that back then they were small kids that could easily fit in one bed. He ignores the fact that his heart started to race with the thought of sharing the bed with Haru again.

It is indeed chilly, however, and maybe it will take him a while to fall asleep. Maybe he and Haru could talk a little more?

“Hey, Haru. Does Rei dislike the prince?”

“Huh? Where did that coming from?”

“He was all about sticking to the original story, but I noticed he added a lot of scenes for the prince saying that people would hate him if he didn’t. What’s with that?”

“Yeah, Rei thinks the prince is a jerk.” Rin hears the soft noise of blankets rustling as Haru shifts around. “I don’t really like him either.”

That surprises Rin.

“Really? Why?”

“Because he says he’s in love with the girl that saved him, but he doesn’t recognize her even though she’s in front of him just because she doesn’t speak. I don’t think he really loves her. The little mermaid should have stayed in the water.”

_Of course Haru would prefer the water over the prince._

“Well, that’s not fair. He only saw her once and she was singing. Of course he would think the mute girl he found was just someone that looked like her.”

“That’s stupidity of him.” Haru insists. “When you came back from Australia, I recognized you even though it had been years since I last saw you. He should be able to recognize the girl that saved him.”

Rin’s stomach does a complete somersault again. His face is burning.

“ _What’s with that comparison?_ You’re not in love with me!”

No response. Can Haru hear Rin’s heartbeat? Because he’s sure it’s beating so fast and loud it’s echoing on the walls of the silent room.

“Haru?”

“Go to sleep, Rin. We have to get up early for club activities tomorrow.”

That means Haru is done with the subject. Rin learned years ago that, once Haru is done with something, it’s almost impossible to get him to speak again.

Rin finds it very hard to fall asleep after that.

 

 

“REI!” Rin roars as he kicks the door open.

Nagisa and Rei jump, startled. The two of them are the only ones inside the club room when Rin arrives in murderous rage. Nagisa recovers soon enough and gives him a sparkly smile.

“Rin-chan! What a nice surprise!”

 “Rin-san.” Rei adjusts his glasses. “It’s not that I’m unhappy to see you, but please don’t just… Am I having a deja vu?”

“Am I going to _DIE_?” Rin shakes the script in front of Rei.

Thanks to Rei method of rehearsing one act at time before doing the whole play, Rin haven’t read the whole script until yesterday. Turns out that the prince had found a woman (played by Nagisa) that claimed to be the one he was looking for and he was going to marry her, even after spending several days with the little mermaid. The thing is: if the prince married another woman, the little mermaid would die. Literally die. That was one of the conditions of becoming human. Hearing about that, the little mermaid's sisters talked to the sea witch and asked for a way to save her and the sea witch gave them a magic knife. The little mermaid should stab the ungrateful prince and, when his blood reached her feet, she would recover her fish tail and would be able to go back to the sea with her sisters, although there wasn’t any way to recover her lost voice.

In the end, the little mermaid entered the prince’s room and saw him sleeping peacefully with his fiancée. She wasn’t able to kill him because, even though she wasn’t loved back, she cared too much about him. She threw herself in the sea and died, becoming one with the waves.

The end.

“How is that _possible_?” Rin barks, completely indignant. “The little mermaid is the main character! Why does she die? Shouldn’t her marry the prince and be happy ever after? She’s _the main character!!_ ” He repeats for emphasis.

“Well, Romeo and Juliet were also the main characters, but that didn’t stop them from dying, did it?” Rei points.

“Rei-chan wanted the original.” Nagisa explains, grinning. “And the original story is a tragedy.”

“You! Why are you stealing my prince, you filthy sea witch?” Rin glares at Nagisa. “Does that mean the prince ends charmed to be in love with the sea witch?”

“Nope.” Nagisa chuckles. “I read the story. It is never said that the sea witch bewitches the prince. The fiancée and the sea witch are different characters. I play them both by coincidence, coincidence!”

“He isn’t even under a spell?” Rin huffs. “What kind of prince is that? Just anyone that claims to have saved him will do?”

“Aaaw did you want to marry Haru-chan too, Rin-chan?”

Rin’s face becomes as red as a tomato.

“ _That’s not it!_ ”

“That’s right.” A bored voice calls from the entrance. “If he did, he would have accepted to share the bed me when I asked him to.”

And he’s here. Haru, followed by Makoto. Saying that as if it’s nothing.

“H-Haru?” Makoto squeaks, blushing.

Nagisa coos. “What is that? What is that? What do you mean Haru-chan? Did Rin-chan dump you? How mean, Rin-chan, you should accept Haru-chan’s feelings!”

“H-H-Haruka-senpai, I d-don’t think that’s appropriate-”

“OI!” Rin shouts. “That’s not it! Haru, you bastard, quit saying stuff that can be misinterpreted!”

Haru gives him an unimpressed look, as if he doesn’t know what Rin is talking about… or as if he did it on purpose and he doesn’t regret it. Is it just Rin or does Haru look a little bitter? It’s hard to say because, outside the stage, Haru has only two expressions plus a bonus one (The bored expression, the annoyed expression and the bonus pool expression that can only be achieved when close to water.)

“What are you complaining about this time?” Haru asks, ignoring Rin’s embarrassment.

“Did you know that the little mermaid dies?” And maybe Rin is pouting, just a little.

But who could blame him? He got emotionally invested! He really liked the little mermaid as a kid! The way she sacrificed everything for her dream to live in the human world and go after the person she loved… Rin found that inspiring. And hadn’t he changed schools in the middle of the year once because he wanted to swim with Haru? He sympathized with the little mermaid, he really did.

“Serves her right.” Haru says, mercilessly emotionless. “Who told her to become human and go out of the water anyway?”

Of course he would say that. Rin lets out a tired sigh as Nagisa chuckles and Makoto smiles apologetically.

“Haru, you shouldn’t take that personally.” Makoto pats him on the shoulder.

“Well, Rin-san, since you’re here, why don’t you join us for practice?” Rei invites.

Well, today is Monday, which means Samezuka doesn’t have practice, so there is no reason to say no. It’s been a while since he last swam with them – and, by the corner of his eye, he notices that Haru’s expression changed from something between annoyed and bored to something closer to the pool expression.

“Well… I’d like to, but I don’t have my swimsuit with me”

“That’s not a problem. I can lend you one.” Rei offers, smiling pleasantly. “I have an extra in my locker, just follow me.”

“Yay, swimming with Rin-chan!” Nagisa cheers. “I’m going to pick the swimsuit with you two!”

Nagisa and Rei start chattering excitedly as they walk out of the club room. Rin follows them a little behind – there is something about Nagisa and Rei when they’re together that makes you want to not interrupt them – and that's when he hears Makoto’s soft voice from the club room:

“What were you talking about? Did you ask Rin to…  Oh my God, Haru, did you finally…”

“Did not, I was just messing with him.” Haru sounds annoyed – and maybe a little embarrassed? – when he cuts off before Makoto can finish the question. “Stop grinning at me like that!”

Rin hears Makoto chuckling and saying something in response, but now he’s too far away from the club room to understand. Rin wants to go back and listen to the rest of the conversation, but at the same time he doesn’t want to know. He doesn’t put it in words – not even in his thoughts – but he has the impression that finding out what Makoto and Haru were talking about would be too much for his heart.

 

 

Rin becomes aware of his feelings at the worst possible moment, because Haru is sitting by his side and he’s wearing a dress.

Today is the last rehearsal before the festival and they’re all wearing their actual costumes. The whole drama thing was kind of fun for the past few eeks, Rin's got to admit. None of them can actually sing and some of them really suck at acting, but that's what makes this so much fun. Except Rei insisted that they should get used to the clothes before the big day, which means Haru is looking all beautiful in his prince outfit and Rin is wearing not only a puffy pink dress, but also a long red wig that is hot as hell. He’s uncomfortable and angry, but he’s trying his best to remain in character as he and Haru sit on a bench on the castle’s garden.

This is the scene in which the prince tells the little mermaid that he’s going to meet the woman that claimed to be the one he’s looking for and the little mermaid feels devastated. She wants to tell him not to go, to stay with her, so she grabs his hand trying to convey her feelings. The prince doesn’t understand, of course. (“Is the mermaid an idiot? Why doesn’t she just write or something?” Sousuke had asked a couple of rehearsals ago. “Mermaids can’t write, Sousuke, there is no paper under the sea.” Rin had replied in an offended tone. “She should have stayed there, then.” Haru had added unhelpfully.)

“Then I shall get going.” Haru says. His expression is very un-Haru-like. He’s wearing a serious frown, filled with determination. “Wish me luck, my mute friend, for I might return with the love of my life.”

Rin grabs Haru’s hand. He shakes his head, doing his best to show sorrow on his expression, as if begging him to stay.

“Don’t worry.” Haru assures him, caressing his hand. “I won’t forget you. You shall be our the maid of honor and I’ll still be friends and take care of you even after I get married.”

And he lets go of his hand, getting up. _No_ , Rin thinks, _I don’t want to be friends anymore. I want to be the one you’ll marry, Haru._

…

...

Wait.

_Wait, what?_

Rin gets up and stomps his way out of the stage and hoping that his face isn’t as red as it feels. Where did that even come from? Why would he think of something like that?

Luckily for him, Rei announces a five minutes break and he hurries to the backstage, pulling the wig off his head so he can breathe. He rushes to the table in which they keep a bunch of bottles of water and downs half of one in one single gulp.

“Whoa there, is someone thirsty.” He hears Sousuke’s voice. “What’s wrong with you? Why do you look like a beet wearing a wig?”

“Sousuke.” Rin calls. There is water dripping from his mouth, his face still feels hot and his hair is probably messy from pulling the wig so suddenly. He probably looks a little desperate. Well, to be fair, he does feel desperate. “I think I have a crush on Haru.”

Sousuke chokes on his own bottle of water.

“T-that’s not the answer I was expecting.” Sousuke coughs, wiping the water off his chin. “But okay. So what?”

“So what? _So what_? Did you not hear me? I said I think I-”  Rin interrupts himself noticing he’s talking to loud. He looks around. No one is paying attention to them. Haru is on the aisle with Rei and Nagisa discussing something Rin can’t hear from this far. He takes a deep breath and aggressively murmurs: “I said I think I have a crush on my rival and all you have to say is “ _so what_ ”?”

“What do you want me to say?” Sousuke cocks an eyebrow. “It’s not like it’s big news. You had a crush on him since we were kids. Should I remember you that you wrote a fucking essay about him in which you called him your shinning?”

 “I did not have a crush on him back them!” Rin grits his teeth. “I realized just now! He was there saying that he’s going away and he’s going to _marry Nagisa_ and I really didn’t want him to go and…”

“Whoa, okay, okay, stop, this is gross.” Sousuke groans. “He’s not marrying anyone, you idiot, he’s barely 18 and this is just a play.” There is a small pause. Sousuke’s face twists in disgust. “Good God, tell me you didn’t just fantasize about marrying Nanase.”

Rin stares at his own feet, trying to hide the flush on his cheeks. Sousuke lets out a sickened noise.

“Unbelievable. I do not want to hear this. Just go ask him out or something. Spare me from your creepy fantasies.”

“I can’t just ask him out!” Rin huffs. “He’s been my friend for years, I can’t just go ahead and ask him to date! It’ll be weird!”

“Then kill him.”

“ _What_? What the fuck, Sousuke, _no_!”

“Want me to kill him for you?”

“I know you think killing your problems is a valid solution, but it really isn’t, especially if the problem is a person I have a crush on.”

“Then suffer in silence. I’ve had enough of hearing poetic descriptions of Nanase when we were 12.”

“You are the worst friend of the world.”

Sousuke grins, fully aware that Rin doesn’t mean that. Rei calls Sousuke to the stage, announcing that the break is over. Haru is already there, ready for the scene in which the prince and his best friend travel to meet the prince’s future wife. Sousuke looks at Rin on the backstage, points at Haru and mouths “Want me to ask him out for you?”

Rin throws a bottle of water at him. Sousuke dodges and it hits Haru on the head. Rei yells at him for disturbing the rehearsal and almost murdering the prince, but it’s nothing compared to the dirty look Haru gives him as Sousuke howls with laughter on the background.

He would have laughed as well if it wasn’t so tragic: he fell in love with his friend. He was unable to ask him out. So he hit him on the head with a plastic bottle. _Doing great, Rin. You’re doing really great._

 

 

The last rehearsal sucks, because everything is different now that Rin was able to name the sweet anxiety he feels when he’s around Haru. Now he knows why his heart beats faster when Haru slowly opens his eyes after the prince is saved.  Now he doesn’t have to pretend to be overwhelmed when the prince hugs the mermaid, because he really feels like dying when Haru embraces him. Now he doesn’t have difficulty to act heartbroken when the prince walks away to his fiancée, because he really understands the mermaid’s pain. Actually, by the end of it, he really does feel like throwing himself at the sea. Except that he doesn’t really want to die and become sea foam, he just wants to maybe swim all the way back to Australia where there is no Haru.

The fact that a place with no Haru saddens him is the part that low key makes him want to become sea foam.

On that night, he doesn’t sleep. A lot of things fall into place now that he realized that he’s in love with Haru. He tries to tell himself that Haru is a weirdo that only eats fish and keeps water magazines as if they were porn beneath his bed. He tells himself that Haru is an expressionless, lazy dork that goes far beyond annoying when he wants to. That doesn’t make his feelings go away. He finds himself groaning into the pillow when he realizes that he finds Haru’s weirdness endearing.

“You better not be jerking off to Nanase down there. I’m still here, you know?” Sousuke says from the top bunk.

Rin curses and throws the pillow at him. Sousuke laughs and throws it back.

 

 

It’s the day of the festival and Rin is not only nervous about the play, but also upset because this is the last day he’ll spend with Haru for a while. After all of this is over, the two clubs will go back to swimming and they won’t see each other every day anymore. Rin’s romantic side says that long distance relationships are really cool, but he and Haru don’t have a relationship. Hell, he doesn’t even know if Haru likes him back.

He had never liked anyone in that way before, because he was too focused on his dream to become a professional swimmer. He doesn’t know what to act.

Gou almost has a heart attack when she sees the bags under Rin’s eyes caused by the sleepless night. He’s glad when she drags him to a corner of their improvised dressing-room to put some make up on his face, because it gives him an excuse to avoid Haru. He notices Sousuke’s pitiful look and he ignores it as well.

Ten minutes before the play, he asks to be left alone to focus. No one questions him, because he looks very threatening wearing a mermaid tail and a seashell bra and he even manages to ignore Sousuke when he tells everyone that “Rinrin needs a moment alone because he’s such a diva.”

Once he’s alone behind the curtains, Rin takes a deep breath. It’s okay, he tells himself. He just has to do as they rehearsed. Today is not about him and Haru specifically, it’s about the little mermaid and the prince. Just because they’re playing a tragedy, doesn’t mean their own lives will become one. He’ll figure out what to do about this after this whole festival thing is over.

“Rin?”

He opens his eyes, his heart rushing just by hearing his voice. Haru. He looks unfairly handsome in his prince outfit. Someone – probably Makoto – combed his hair to the side and he looks like a fairy tale character more than ever.

“What are you doing here? They’ll open the curtains at any moment.”

“I know.” Haru says calmly approaching. “They’ll open them in five minutes. Are you ready?”

“I was born ready.” Rin scowls. “Let’s get this over at once.”

A little smile appears on Haru’s face. Rin feels his chest tightening. “You look like the scariest mermaid ever.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Rin turns around, trying his best not to sulk but the truth is that he’s pouting. Just a little.

“Rin?”

“What, Haru, _what_?”

Haru cups Rin’s face with both hands and pulls him down. Rin is wearing a seashell bra and a blond wig when Haruka gives him his first kiss.

It’s soft and awfully short, but ridiculously sweet. Rin stills, unsure of what to do until Haru pulls away.

“Sousuke told me you want to do gross things with me.” Haru murmurs in a hoarse voice. “Let’s see about that after the festival. Break a leg.”

And he gives Rin that unfair little smile again before leaving him alone. Rin buries his face on his hands, as if that would stop his cheeks from burning. He has to control his emotions before the play starts. And he will. At this point, he will not let Rei down.

Still he finds it very difficult to wipe the happy smile of his face.


End file.
